


The Final Act

by KrozJr



Series: Isobel Saga [6]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-08-27 00:15:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16691677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KrozJr/pseuds/KrozJr
Summary: The TARDIS lands in London, 2204, but all is not as it seems. Susan is missing, so the four TARDIS crew investigate. But they’re in more danger than could ever be imagined.Beware the one with red laces.





	1. London, 2204

** Part 1 - London, 2204 **

 

**Pre-credits sequence:** London lay abandoned. However, there was hope. To the north, the Dalek mine of Bedfordshire was destroyed, the Daleks dead. As the city lay, waiting for a hopeful future, a voice came from the ruins on the south bank.

“One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs, and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine. Goodbye Susan, goodbye my dear.”

And then there was silence again. But he would come back...

 

**Credits roll. 40 Years later…**

 

Wheezing. Groaning. The blue box that brings hope to so many materialized on the south bank. Slowly, the Doctor came out of the TARDIS, set down his chess piece (surprise, surprise), and looked around.

“London, 2204! Oh, brilliant! I can go and see Susan!” He said excitedly. He beckoned Jamie, Isobel, and Zoe out, and they looked around.

“So this is London, 240 years in my future? Wow!” Isobel said. Sure, a random holiday resort planet and a giant chess set had both been fun, but this was her city.

“So, Doctor, what’s happened in that time?” Isobel asked, curious, snapping pictures of Big Ben, standing tall and proud despite the mists of time and an entire invasion.

“Well,” the Doctor started, and the next few minutes were filled with a tale of a city as they walked along the south bank.

 

“Excuse me, can you put me through to… ah, David and Susan Campbell, please?” The Doctor asked into a phone. There was a brief tone, where the Doctor reflected that telecommunication technology had gone backwards, before a man picked up the phone.

“Hello, David Campbell speaking, how can I help?” A crackly voice came.

“Yes, hi, I’m looking for Susan, I’m the Doctor.” The Doctor replied. There was a moment of confused silence, before a sigh of understanding.

“Ah, I see. You’ve regenerated like Susan said you might. Well, you can come round, but you might be disappointed. Susan’s… missing.” David said. The Doctor’s hearts skipped a beat, before he asked “Where do you live?”

 

“So, what happened?” The Doctor asked.

“Well,” started David, distraught, talking to the four travellers, “she went to look at something in the pond, and then I presume she fell in and was sucked under. But I’ve had it drained, there’s no way to escape.”

“Hmm, tricky one.” The Doctor said, before he went out back to look at the pond. Jamie and Zoe followed, with Isobel delicately balancing her camera on one shoulder while it was pointed over the Doctor’s. Zoe tried not to acknowledge the illogical, irrational feeling of deja vu. The sonic was pulled out, and slowly buzzed over the plastic bottom of the drained ornamental feature. Suddenly it beeped extremely loudly, indicating a hollow. The Doctor punched a hole straight through, revealing a tunnel and a ladder below. Slowly, surely, he clambered down into the below, his three friends following him, leaving only a promise to get her back for David to hang onto.

 

For two centuries they’d been down here. Experiment 1 and experiment 2 had both been foiled. So the final plan was put in place. They would wait, knowing he would come. And they kidnapped her, because she was bait enough. They’d waited for over 200 years, only mindless waiting to be done. But the time was near, they would succeed this time. The figure went over to another, light reflecting off something in the dimly lit room. Neither noticed the girl working her way free.

“What is the status of experiment 3-1?” The first said.

“We have extracted the temporal energy needed to create the specialised systems.” The other replied.

“Excellent.” The first one said. They had waited for too long, but now their time of victory was near. They would survive. They would thrive.

 

Susan crawled through the miles of old rat-runs and sewers, desperate for a manhole. It was almost like… they’d let her go. But that seemed too easy for her. No, they had a plan. She could sense it. And they’d revealed their names. She would go to the local library and perform a blanket search. Anything, even fiction stories would be useful. And then, once she’d analysed the threat, she’d pull together an army. She would. Suddenly, she stopped. A breeze! She pushed up, and a manhole cover opened onto the pavement with a deafening clang. There was an almost hypnotising claxon as everyone stopped to listen to the daily news. Some Heriot girl, from those space stations, descended from the famous scientist Zoana or something, had done something worth applause. Susan ignored it. She dusted herself down, and went to the station. Thanking in-built money chips, she boarded a train towards the British Library. If they would be anywhere, they’d be there.

 

“You know, I have a sense of deja vu. Almost like… like I’ve been here before…” Zoe uttered. Jamie nodded. This rocky tunnel did feel familiar, it was similar. A memory tried to resurface, but found itself crushed by an unknown force. The tunnel slowly got narrower, cobwebs covering every wall. Then, it suddenly opened up into a very familiar metal-clad room.

“Is this… the cyber-conversion chamber?” Isobel asked. She pulled a photograph out of her pocket, compared it and gasped.

“No, it can’t be. Can it?” The Doctor asked, then looked at the photo that Isobel had held up. It was a perfect match.

“But that’s… impossible! That entrance wasn’t there!” Isobel said. She would”ve remembered it had it been there 240 years ago. Meanwhile, Jamie and Zoe were wondering around in a almost daze, looking at all the equipment. The very same that had been used to temporarily cyber-convert them.

 

Isobel, like usual, was snapping photos, mainly for contrasting purposes. She would look back and compare. She couldn’t shake a feeling though - someone was here before them. She never knew what lead her to pull that old familiar lens out of her bag, the one that showed a trail of metal Cyberman dust. But when the photo came out of her camera (it was an upgrade), she was stunned. She compared. Not possible. Perhaps the five new trails could be explained by the fact the Brigadier was upgraded by two. Two go in, three go out. Total of five. Perhaps. But why, in that case, were there seven trails?

“Doctor…” She started, but stopped suddenly. The Doctor hushed her, and then slowly made the ‘turn around’ hand movement. She did, and came face to face with a Cyberman.

**Next Time: Deja Vu — Cyber Rendezvous**


	2. Deja Vu — Cyber Rendezvous

** Part 2 - Deja Vu — Cyber Rendezvous **

**Last Time:** Isobel, like usual, was snapping photos, mainly for contrasting purposes. She would look back and compare. She couldn’t shake a feeling though - someone was here before them. She never knew what lead her to pull that old familiar lens out of her bag, the one that showed a trail of Cyberman’ dust. But when the photo came out of her camera (it was an upgrade), she was stunned. She compared. Not possible. Perhaps the five new trails could be explained by the fact the Brigadier was upgraded by two. Two go in, three go out. Total of five. Perhaps. But why, in that case, were there seven trails?

“Doctor…” She started, but stopped suddenly. The Doctor hushed her, and then slowly made the ‘turn around’ hand movement. She did, and came face to face with a Cyberman.

 

Isobel gasped. The Doctor looked aghast. Cybermen? Again? Why couldn’t they leave him and his friends alone? Zoe and Jamie looked on in horror at the ‘metal beastie’ that seemed to keep following them through time and space. What Jamie wouldn’t give for an ice warrior - at least they didn’t convert you to their own. Cue the involuntary shudder. The Cyberman noticed this, its cold steel face with black circled eye holes made extra creepy by the dark.

“Come with us. We will help you with your fear. We will eliminate your fear.” It said, drawing a cybergun and giving the four very little alternative but to follow onwards.

 

‘ _ The Metal Tombs’ _ by V. Waterfield was proving to be a good read. Susan had dropped a line to David via the new-fangled head communicators (she had assured him that aliens only attacked it in the 25th century) long before it was adopted widespread. After getting freshed up in a communal public fresher (attitudes change), she read about a planet called Telos, and an expedition by a man named Klieg. A young Victorian, a scotsman, and a ‘Doctor’ were there too. Susan smiled; grandfather always wound up as the hero in myths and stories. Be he Zeus or the ‘evil’ one (Susan had heard it from a colleague who claimed to know someone from the Gallifreyan future). And here he was again, this time kidnapping a scotsman and an orphan. Because that is the logical progression from grandchild to school teachers to orphans.

‘Makes logical sense.’ Susan thought as she continued her search, mentally noting the book title for later.

 

The four followed into a more recently built chamber. Several Cybermen stood around. The Doctor acted impressed.

“Well, well, well, you’ve done it again! You’ve captured us! Well done my friends, bravo.” He fake congratulated. The Cybermen ignored him, and the Doctor went serious.

“So right,” he asked, “what’s the plan, then?”

“Well, we have your companions.” One responded. The Doctor looked puzzled.

“And?”

“We have the two former-cybermen in your group.” Another responded. Jamie and Zoe took a few steps back, and looked around anxiously.

“So what, is your entire plan the -“ The Doctor started, but was cut off by a high-pitched wailing. It filled the room. Him and Isobel clutched their ears in pain, but the other two didn’t seem to notice it.

“What it is, Doctor?” Zoe asked, the Doctor barely hearing her. Suddenly, she and Jamie went slack, as the noise stopped. The Cybermen had them again.

 

Susan continued the search, but all she found was another book by the same author, called ‘ _ Locked in a Metal Suit _ ’. It seemed like a hapless romance, a thriller, and (surprise) involved her grandfather. Again. Interesting enough, though, and then her eyes jumped at the words ‘ _ Ian Chesterton _ ’. So they made it home eventually. She read with excitement as the Doctor (who seemed to have regenerated by this point) slowly began to unravel a mystery about his companions being abducted. It seemed his accidental theft of two teachers from a school had, as they say, meant his hearts grew 4629379261037102837 sizes that day (we all know the saying). She curiously read as more people disappeared (shuddering at the similarities to what had happened to her). And she gasped in horror when the Cybermen’s plan was revealed. But she smiled at the heartwarming, faintly familiar proposal that her two old teachers shared at the end, their emotions almost seeming to go from suppressed to heightened in a matter of moments. Having found all she needed, she left the library.

 

After a few seconds of shocked recovery, the Doctor looked at the blank, emotionless faces on Jamie and Zoe. He looked at the Cybermen. And he looked at the floor (for no reason). Then, he laughed. He laughed hard. 

“So what you’re saying is, you’ve been so unoriginal that you are using the exact same plan as before!” He laughed. Didn’t they realise how terribly their control techniques worked last time? Isobel quickly realised what he was saying and grinned. She put down her camera in excitement as she caught on.

“Shall I start smoochy-smooch while you go and get Victoria?” She asked, smiling like an idiot. The Cybermen were leaving themselves open to the exact same weakness! This was brilliant! This was-

“Stop.” The controlled Zoe said. The laughter fell off their faces.

“No. That will not work.” Jamie said, before Zoe joined him in saying “Our leaders shall now explain to you why.”

 

“Remember this, Doctor?” A Cyberman gestured to a screen, showing a Dalek saucer…

_ “Interesting. Good to know I have a good future, eh?” The first Doctor interrupted. The second started to play his recorder and it was at that point Jamie snapped. _

_ “Oh, Doctors, why can’t ye do something useful?” He shouted. _

_ “Well Jamie, we’re trapped here-” Two started, but was interrupted by an irate Zoe. _

_ “Yeah, but you have a sonic screwdriver you silly fool. Use it!” Zoe shouted. There was silence for a moment. _

_ “Listen Doc, I’m sorry for snapping at ye, it’s just that I cannae imagine you giving up.” Jamie said. _

_ “Yes Doctor, I’m sorry. I don’t know what got into me. Almost as if… no, never mind.” Zoe agreed. The Doctor accepted their apologies. _

 

“Or when, on Kollenium, Jamie and I, for a moment, weren’t concerned about Isobel being among the mad. Or, alternatively, what about this…” Zoe pitched in, the little part of her mind not completely controlled, merely subversient, worked out the plan logically, as the screen showed the Doctor vs the Monk…

_ “Doctor, I’m feeling incredibly faint, can I go back to the TARDIS?” Jamie asked. The Doctor studied him, before saying yes, and Zoe went with him, propping him up. About halfway across the field, Zoe suddenly collapsed, Jamie with her. They both got up, just fine, around 20 seconds later, and would subsequently say that they had no idea what had happened.  _

“What was the point of all this?” Isobel asked.

“Are you trying to reboot ‘ _ This was your life’ _ ? They tried that in the 2050s, and it failed. In my case, you might need a few episodes. Or seasons!” The Doctor added, using a brash outward response to mask inner confusion and then panic as he slowly worked it out. A look of horror slowly passed over his face at the next few words spoken by the Cybermen and their puppets.

“No.” The Cyberman said, flatly. With information transmitted to the previously dormant chips in their heads, Jamie and Zoe understood the situation perfectly.

“The chips in our minds,” they said in unison, “ they were upgraded across spacetime. Those were the side effects. And now they have been upgraded, which you saw the effects of, they cannot be overridden. We belong to the Cybermen. PERMANENTLY!”

**Next Time: The Ultimate Stratagem**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes the cliffhanger is almost exactly the same as The Silver Menace pt3, but I promise you, the next one will blow your mind.


	3. The Ultimate Stratagem

**Part 3 - The Ultimate Stratagem**

**Last Time:** “Are you trying to reboot ‘ _ This was your life’ _ ? They tried that in the 2050s, and it failed. In my case, you might need a few episodes. Or seasons!” The Doctor added, using a brash outward response to mask inner confusion and then panic as he slowly worked it out. A look of horror slowly passed over his face at the next few words spoken by the Cybermen and their puppets.

“No.” The Cyberman said, flatly. With information transmitted to the previously dormant chips in their heads, Jamie and Zoe understood the situation perfectly.

“The chips in our minds,” they said in unison, “ they were upgraded across spacetime. Those were the side effects. And now they have been upgraded, which you saw the effects of, they cannot be overridden. We belong to the Cybermen. PERMANENTLY!”

 

“Carstairs, get over here. Now!”

In the offices of the world news and data distribution agency, or WNDDA, there was a minor problem. It seemed a minor issue was occuring with the chips in everyone’s heads. In this afternoon’s data dumps, they’d all gone offline for a moment as they seemed to patch into something. Peculiar. Carstairs was the chief anti-malware officer; if there was anything amiss, then he’d spot it. He studied the screen closely, but couldn’t see anything of much interest. In fact, nothing at all. Not a blip other than the obvious, which was so obvious that he didn’t notice it. Something wasn’t branching out to the chips. The chips were branching out themselves. To the brain.

 

Isobel and the Doctor had discussed all eventualities on the way here, and so they were putting a plan into practice. He would distract while she got away and notified the authorities. So she did. She crawled through miles of tunnels, slowly listening to the debate fading away behind her, miserable dripping all that was left. By pure dumb luck her sewer ended up outside David’s house. She got out, and immediately bumped into someone.

“Oh I’m so sorry!” Susan said as she dusted herself down. Isobel said something similar, and then they both continued towards the same destination. Which caused an interesting conversation once they got in.

 

Jamie and Zoe mindlessly went into the room they’d just come from while under orders. These Cybermen weren’t running on empty, but were hurried, so turned to the same half-measures that had been discovered, lost, and recovered upon the rediscovery of this place. They both underwent similar procedures. First, a metal torso back was strapped round their chests. The front was then carefully slotted in, sterile metal needles slipping into the skin painlessly and bloodlessly where needed to boost heart and lung function and to suspend digestion. Then, more metal objects were skewered into their arms under a suit-like sleeve with metal-elastic gloves at the end able to make their grip a terrifying weapon. The new metal objects would connect with other wire units and mean they would rely on a small reactor in the chest for energy. The legs were done next, identical to the arms, solid steel boots were carefully bolted on, and a new-and-improved super-strong metal glue bonding all parts together. Finally, the helmet, cyber-radio-receivers, and other control technologies were fitted with small wires linking to the completely emotionless, logical brain for control of the suit, and a glue coating was used for attachment. In Zoe’s case, as her superior intellect made her a good cyberleader, the helmet transmitter handles were black not silver, and there was a lump on top for extra circuits. But no matter their jobs, the process was over. They had returned to their metal hell.

 

“So you know David?” Susan asked.

“The Doctor, Jamie, Zoe, and I met him briefly. He wanted to meet you.” Isobel responded. David looked at the two, bemused. They were sat in his living room on his sofa, an old design from the early 21st century which ‘mysteriously’ appeared fresh out of the box one morning in 2192. Bizzare. 

“These metal men you told me about,” Susan started, “I think I met them, and they remind me of these characters in a book by a Miss V. Waterfield. Did you or the Doctor know her?”

“Yes!” Isobel responded.

“We met her briefly twice as a team but she and the Doctor and Jamie used to travel as a group. The latest two books in the series were actually things I witnessed.” She added.

“I see.” Susan responded. Internally, she acknowledged that this made sense - the similarities were too great. But what to do now?

 

The two new Cybermen stomped out. Jamie and Zoe were now, as they proudly proclaimed in monotone drones, “Cyberunits 0679” and “Cyberleader 13” respectively. The Doctor seemed almost broken.

“Your emotions break you,” Cyberunit 0679 said, “but we may be able to help you.”

“How? Your systems work on humans. Scan me! I’m not human! I am incom-“ The Doctor said, but he was cut off by Cyberleader 13.

“Correct. You are not human. But our systems were upgraded.” She said.

“How? You can’t have had access to a Time Lord. There aren’t any…” The Doctor started, seeing a ‘great flaw’ in their plan, before seeing the great flaw in his.

“Susan.” He added, sullenly.

“Yes. She has escaped us,” Unit 0679 put in, “but no matter. You will do. You will be our first Cyberlord!”

 

“Well, what worked last time?” Susan asked, desperate for an answer that would help.

“We used the power of love to overwhelm them with emotions - the Cybermen suppress them you see. But this won’t work this time. They learn. As for the Doctor, I dread to think what’s happened to him.” Isobel responded. Susan looked in thought for a moment before realising something.

“When I was captured by the Cybermen, they mentioned the ‘great final stratagem’ - any idea what that might mean?” Susan asked.

“Nope. Nothing. But as a guess,” Isobel responded, “they’ll look for a weakness and exploit it. From my own experience and the Doctor’s stories, they do this a lot. Mondas - isolation. The moonbase - the human need for food and drink. Telos - inquisitivity. The wheel - blind trust. The invasion of Earth mk1 - electronics. The invasion of Earth mk2 - the Doctor’s love for his companions. But what could they use here?”

 

There was a puff of smoke. Units 0119 and 0679 came out, boots clanging on the hard, cold, metal floor below. Cyberleader 13 examined the entrance to the conversion theatre. There were puffs of smoke as lights gently winked in the distance. Then, a silhouette, ghostly, in the form of a Cyberman, stomped out. In one hand was clutched a recorder. In another, a TARDIS key. The metal boots were decorated with red laces to signify the important status of the wearer. The gloves had a red outline. The black handles had red stripes. The form stopped. The right hand, holding the recorder, raised to meet the left, already up in the air. They both grabbed hold of the small wooden object, and twisted. The recorder snapped helplessly in two, and the unit’s last resistance was gone as the symbol of its emotions fell softly to the floor in two splintery pieces. The first Cyberlord was formed from the body of the Doctor. And now, with the Doctor’s expertise, with the Doctor’s knowledge of science, and (most importantly), with the Doctor’s knowledge of space-time travel, the Cybermen would be unstoppable.

**Next Time: The Weak Link**


	4. The Weak Link

** Part 4: The Weak Link   
**

 

**Last Time:** Then, a silhouette, ghostly, in the form of a Cyberman, stomped out. In one hand was clutched a recorder. In another, a TARDIS key. The metal boots were decorated with red laces to signify the important status of the wearer. The gloves had a red outline. The black handles had red stripes. The form stopped. The right hand, holding the recorder, raised to meet the left, already up in the air. They both grabbed hold of the small wooden object, and twisted. The recorder snapped helplessly in two, and the unit’s last resistance was gone as the symbol of its emotions fell softly to the floor in two splintery pieces. The first Cyberlord was formed from the body of the Doctor. And now, with the Doctor’s expertise, with the Doctor’s knowledge of science, and (most importantly), with the Doctor’s knowledge of space-time travel, they Cybermen would be unstoppable.

 

Susan and Isobel, in absence of things to do, having run through the list of weaknesses of the human race without a conclusive exploitable one, were passing time. Susan started reading the books of V. Waterfield. It was interesting, certainly. They plot was good, but the villains were unwelcomingly familiar. The Daleks still occasionally gave her nightmares, of a world reduced to rubble, of a world irradiated, of a world inhabited only by schizophrenic, sadistic, xenophobic pepperpots. Their seemingly harmless looking egg-whisk had put her off learning baking for a few years (she refused to transfer fully to meal cubes. She’d have one for breakfast if she was in a rush, but nothing else).

 

Isobel was also in deep thought. Was the Doctor alright? Was the small part of Zoe trying to be free, screaming inside because it was trapped below a possibly metal shell, was it thinking of her? Was Jamie, with his hot-headed but endearing and protective attitude, was he trapped in a metal suit too? Was that the fate that awaited her and Susan? What of the entire human race? Their home was wiped out, and (for what the Cybermen knew, anyway), they were the last in existence. So would they try and destroy or would they try and conquer? Isobel tried to keep these worries at bay as she read a book by Dorothea Chaplet which Susan had recommended, but she found her mind wandering into the scary territory of doubt.

 

“Raise alignment field by 40%.” The Cyberlord said, head glinting in the dim lights of the cybercontrol.

“Illogical.” Cyberleader 13 replied. “It will overload.”

“Trust me, I know this equipment.” The Cyberlord flatly stated. He knew best. He had worked with equipment like this in his TARDIS for decades.

“I obey.” Cyberleader 13 said, and the plan grew closer to completion.

 

“Honey, I’m home!” David called as he came through the door. Within moments, the mid-fifties looking gentleman was set upon in a massive hug as Susan came to greet him. Due to the advances in human technology (and one of them not being human), their aging had slowed to the point where they’d look 60 at age 120, not 60.

“So, today at WNDDA, there was some minor kerfuffle.” David informed his wife a few minutes later as they were all sat in the living room.

“Carstairs, my boss, was worried. The chips, they seemed to malfunction for no reason earlier. It put him in a bad mood and… hey, where are you going, honey?”

But Susan was already out the door and running to her lab to test her theory, Isobel in tow.

 

“What is it Susan?” Isobel asked, not before taking a photo of the genius at work in the scruffy lab and workshop room built as an annex to the house.

“The chips! That’s it! They’re what the Cybermen will use! They’ll use them to incapacitate or control the human race! And everyone is hooked up. So they have, to borrow a phrase from old 21st century adverts, global coverage!” Susan exclaimed. Isobel’s eyes widened.

“But if everyone has a chip and can therefore be controlled, what about you?” Isobel asked.

“That’s why I’m fiddling with these!” Susan said. She held up a small piece of metal with (surprise) a needle in one end.

“They block the signal. I’ve been working on it, wanted to start my own mindfullness meditation group. If I can just tweak it in time for testing on the six o’clock news signal…” Susan rambled, the clock glaring  _ 5:45  _ down at her from the wall. She’d have to work fast. Very fast.

 

At 5:59, Susan painfully hissed as she stuck the probe in. Time for the test. As she heard David singing to himself, the clock chimed, and she knew he was hearing the six o’clock news. But so could Susan. She hurriedly took it out, tweaked, and tried again. Better - it was fuzzy, but still there. Not quite good enough. More tweaking, more fiddling. More fixing. Now, however, it worked. She heard nothing. Never before was she so glad to be ignorant of the news of the world. But was she just in time?

 

“Power up… now! Broadcast override signal!” The Cyberlord commanded.

 

Suddenly, David’s singing stopped. All across the world, everyone, everywhere, stopped. Their chips, for the spread of information, were hooked into their minds and were quickly reprogrammed in the same way as the ones in Jamie and Zoe’s heads. And they stood still, obedient, waiting for command from their new masters. Immediately, those who controlled dangerous or critical defensive or offensive works transferred control to the central Cyber-computer to prevent catastrophe. And also, now the Cybermen were patched in. People in the cities began to make their way mindlessly and emotionlessly to their designated upgrading spots as cyber-computers transferred control of everything to their servers. Isobel and Susan watched in horror as David emptily made his way, like a moth flying blindly to a light that will burn it up. As the same thing happened to everyone else across the world, the only two people left in their own minds followed him out.

 

All around the world, the greatest organised march of history took place. Cybermen joined the crowds, looking just in case any had a connection loose. They would send out pings which active chips would return. Any non-returners would immediately warrant further investigation. The upgrading began, the now-traditional fast, cheap and nasty metal suit techniques being put to use on huge swathes of the population. As numbers came in, a Cyberleader and over 50 Cybermen in each global megacity began the upgrades. From Beijing to London, Mumbai to New York, Moscow to Cairo, cities on every major continent had platoons of Cybermen be created. The numbers came in. 1000, 2000, 10000, 100000. The numbers grew and grew. And the Cybermen’s grip on the Earth tightened. They used T-mat to beam to other major cities once numbers were great enough. They were unstoppable.

 

As David lead ahead, Susan and Isobel hid behind in the crowds. Susan subtly showed her companion the second device she had. She was saving it for David. He would (theoretically, at least) be able to make it into the high command of the WNDDA. Suddenly, a Cyberunit pulled the two to one side.

“You do not conform.” It said. Isobel and Susan stared blankly ahead, trying to fool it.

“I sent a release signal to your two heads, you do not obey, you do not conform.” It said again. Susan, seeing David make it to the front of the upgrade queue, tried to bolt for it. But she was grabbed by the Cyberman.

“I will call in my superior. It will deal with you.” It said as Susan and Isobel struggled in its iron grip. The number of Cybermen created passed one million. Suddenly, Susan crumpled to the floor, shot in the back. And the gun was still smoking in the red-rimmed gloves of the Cyberlord as he marched over.

**Next Time: The World Of Metal, The Humans Of Flesh**


	5. The World Of Metal, The Humans Of Flesh

** Part 5m- The World Of Metal, The Humans Of Flesh **

 

**Last Time:** Suddenly, a Cyberunit pulled the two to one side.

“You do not conform.” It said. Isobel and Susan stared blankly ahead, trying to fool it.

“I sent a release signal to your two heads, you do not obey, you do not conform.” It said again. Susan, seeing David make it to the front of the upgrade queue, tried to bolt for it. But she was grabbed by the Cyberman.

“I will call in my superior. It will deal with you.” It said as Susan and Isobel struggled in its iron grip. The number of Cybermen created passed one million. Suddenly, Susan crumpled to the floor, shot in the back. And the gun was still smoking in the red-rimmed gloves of the Cyberlord as he marched over.

 

For a moment, there was silence like nothing else the city had ever heard. The mechanical thud thud thud of boots briefly stopped, almost in hesitation, and Isobel pounced. She grabbed Susan, and ran for the sewers, cover, anywhere. She fought her way through the now resumed dystopian mindless march of the soon-to-be-Cybermen, fought past the barrier of being out of breath, and into the sewers below the city.

“Cyberlord, we lost them. Should we pursue?” The Cyberman asked.

“No. They will come back.” The Cyberlord said, and if Isobel had been there, she would’ve sworn there had been a twinge of emotion in the word ‘no’, but it was crushed soon after. And now, there was no turning back.

 

Susan had never felt this. Her head was fuzzy and hurt. It was pounding. For some reason, the weapon hadn’t meant to kill. Perhaps the Cybermen had wanted her… alive. She mentally checked for her Grandfather. There was something faint, but cold. Suddenly, everything clicked in her mind, of course! The Cybermen had garnered Time Lord secrets from her and… changed the Doctor. She groaned as Isobel looked down at her. Slowly, carefully, aching as she did so, Susan sat up. She was in a grimy, dingy sewer. It smelt horrible, and while she knew the beasts that lived down here were removed by 2192, she still felt an irrational feeling of dread.

“How are you feeling?” Isobel asked.

“Like I got shot by a Cyberman.” Susan responded. She had a point. And also, soon, a plan.

 

All around the world, cities once teeming with humans, diverse and different in all their own special ways, these same cities became bleak. They were full of endless, conformity marches, one metal man after another back and forth. A few Cybermen had orchestrated the almost complete destruction of the entire human race. They had taken advantage of a weakness, and were able to exploit humanity in many ways. They hid during the Dalek invasion, but quietly lent their technology afterwards. What the chips had done for communication and media was amazing, but by hooking themselves into the system, the system hooked itself into the humans. And these Cybermen knew of the Time Lords, and that there was one on Earth. They had planned this perfectly. And so, the final phase was nearly done. Soon, they wouldn’t just control Earth.

 

The weeds on Primrose Hill swayed in the breeze as Susan and Isobel made their way up it. Their simple, homemade perception filters were blending them into the world around them. The lines of marching men and women trailing off to the horizon in every direction were slowly shortening, as the number of Cybermen slowly grew. The day was fair but the circumstances not. The grass blew in the wind as the trees gently rustled, the air unnervingly silent in the bustling metropolis of dreams. Right now, it was stuck in a nightmare. All across the world, the story was the same. The global upgrade count reaching 1 billion after only a few hours. This was planned to perfection. Experiments 1 and 2, hypnosis and kidnapping, hadn’t worked alone, but together they were a formidable force. The international priority shifted. Now, upgrades weren’t priority. They needed something more.

 

The streets were silent. A rubbish bag freed itself of its groceries as it gently flew off into the evening air, lit up like a luminous jellyfish, bobbing and floating. Susan and Isobel trudged. Most doors were left open, their occupants having abandoned their homes without thought. Isobel briefly stopped, thinking about what they were about to do. Then, they entered some random house and hunkered down for the night. The cold, dark, long night.

 

Somewhere, hidden under lines of code, she was trapped in a broiling mass of nothingness, swirling around her, trying to dominate her. But she would not give up. She tried to resist, but found herself pounding against a brick wall. Nothing productive achieved. Far across the Cyberspace, another person shared her toil. One billion people, crushed under the mindless obedience of logical thinking and perfect reasoning, crushing all of humanity’s ‘weaknesses’ but also their individuality, their creativity, their strength. But the code was stronger. And so their resistance was a failure. But their cause still fought.

 

The sun filtered through the blinds, peeping at the world to see if it was any better. Isobel groggily woke up to find Susan already tinkering with something. Part of the plan. If they could do it. If the Cybermen didn’t get there first. Grimly, not long after, they walked out the door, leaving but a note to apologise for the mud on the carpet. The last leg of their journey beginning. A spark of hope still alight amongst the ash of the human race.

 

The Cyberlord planned in his head. How many would be needed? Global supplies of men had reached 10 billion, nearly the entire global population. How to pick the best? Well, the delusion played on reality, so to speak. The most loyal, the most smart, the strongest, they all found their loyalty changing, their smarts used, their strength manipulated. The Cyberlord immediately picked his first choice Cyberleader. Leader 13, formerly Zoe Heriot, would help him lead the charge against time itself. Now, to collect the rest of their small army.

 

The complex at Edgware stood ahead of them. But it was guarded. A Cyberunit stood on the gate. So the Cybermen knew - there were still fugitives among them. Susan looked worriedly at the problem. She couldn’t see a way around it. She was about to ask Isobel what to do, when she saw her strolling across the road, camera in hand, towards the Cyberman.

 

On a quiet promenade on the South Bank, the Cyberlord and 20 hand-picked Cybermen as well as 2 hand-picked Cyberleaders marched in formation. Ahead, lay their prize. A key in the Cyberlord’s hand gently glowed, trying to spark the small bit of the Doctor buried deep within the lines of code. But it was no use. The group stopped, the blue of the antiquated artifact reflecting as the light of the midday sun pooled on their metal skins. The key was shoved in the lock, the TARDIS begrudgingly identifying the DNA of the user, and then the door opened. The Cyberlord entered. The platoon followed behind. A lever pulled, and the door closed. The console room blazed bright white as the silver figures stood in the middle.

“Now,” the Cyberlord said, “we control not just this world, but all of eternity!”

**Next Time: The Final Act**


	6. The Final Act

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here it is! The final chapter of the Isobel Saga! Thank you so much for reading! My next series is called (imaginatively) the Victoria Saga, and (surprise) follows one Victoria Waterfield. Depending on when I get the first half of the series up, it will be put up either next Saturday or the Saturday afterward. I hope you’ve enjoyed this series, and I hope you enjoy the last chapter.

**~~~~ Part 6 - The Final Act  
**

 

**Last Time:** The key was shoved in the lock, the TARDIS begrudgingly identifying the DNA of the user, and then the door opened. The Cyberlord entered. The platoon followed behind. A lever pulled, and the door closed. The console room blazed bright white as the silver figures stood in the middle.

“Now,” the Cyberlord said, “we control not just this world, but all of eternity!”

 

“Halt.” The metal, tinny voice said flatly. Isobel looked up and smiled.

“Hello, I don’t know if you know the way to the WNDDA?” She asked it innocently. The Cyberman almost seemed bemused.

“You are not controlled.” It said.

“Well I can see that. Listen, can you tell me the way? Also, do you mind a photograph? I’ve wanted to pluck up the courage to take a photo of you new policemen thingies.” Isobel sweetly supplied. The Cyberman was beyond confused. Isobel capitalized. She took the metal probe she had snuck out of Susan’s pocket overnight and jabbed it into a gap in the metal plating. For a moment, there was silence, before a very human voice said “What’s happened?”

 

From across the way, Susan watched intently, never making out the words, before Isobel waved and beckoned her over.

“Our now not-controlled friend here had a bit of a change of mind, so to speak. He’s going to take us to the control centre, so we can start our plan.” Isobel explained. The control signal blocker Susan had made earlier had worked like a treat. Susan nodded appreciatively as they entered the complex, their new friend showing the way.

 

The control room was silent. It was hooked up to central cyber-computers in the HQ buried under London. Susan immediately went over to a control panel and started pressing buttons with lights that blinked and flicking switched that glinted. Meanwhile, Isobel and her new-found friend had a chat.

“Hello.” Isobel started. The air was filled with a thick silence as they watched Susan work. Isobel briefly thought of Zoe, and a tear came to her eye.

“Have they got… someone you love?” The no-longer a Cyberman asked. Inside, the victim of the upgrade was released from Cybercontrol by the spare probe.

“Yes. Her name was Zoe. Because of her intelligence, they upgraded her in advance. And my friend Jamie was also upgraded before the main attack.” Isobel said.

“I had a lover. Where are they now?” The not-a-Cyberman asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t know.” Isobel sadly stated, and wiped away the tears from her eyes as she came forward to help Susan...

 

“Hello, this is Isobel Watkins, calling the TARDIS, calling the TARDIS, can you read me?” Static blared from the TARDIS scanner. The Cyberlord turned and stared blankly at the screen.

“Hello metal boys and girls, it’s me here, live from the WNDDA control room. How do you do?” Isobel brightly exclaimed. Cyberleader 13 stated the obvious.

“You are not… controlled.” It said.

“Well,” started Isobel, “I can see that. I had a very similar conversation outside. Which is what I’m talking about. Humanity is great because they’re unique. And you’re crushing that. Not any longer.”

Isobel looked at Susan, who was off camera and mouthed ‘Great job!’.

“You cannot affect us. We will spread the Cybermen through time and space. We have your friend, the Doctor, who has joined us. He is our Cyberlord.” Cyberleader 51 proclaimed. The Cyberlord took a step forward, as was about to continue when Isobel butted in.

“Oh no no no! We could broadcast a… whatchamicallit, anti-control signal through the TARDIS circuits to stop you!” Isobel explained, trying to understand the technobabble. Off camera, Susan nodded.

“You would need a time lady or time lord to get access to the systems. You do not have one.” The Cyberlord said flatly.

“Oh yes we do, Grandfather!” Susan said, floating into view. She tinkered with a few switches, and broadcast a frequency to the TARDIS. 

 

There was a low humming, different to the normal control room hum. He opened his eyes to see a distorted, computerised view of the room. Peculiar. Slowly, he lifted up his strangely heavy head, and (with a peculiar puffing sound) stood up. Suddenly, his memories, both before conversion and after conversion, flooded back. The Doctor involuntarily took a step back.

“... wakey wakey! Any time now, whenever you like!” A voice filled his ears. He looked to the scanner. On it was… Susan and Isobel?

“What?” A voice, strangely tinny said. It took him a moment to associate the noise with his voice.

“Send the release signal, of course!” Susan said at him as though he was a three year old. Of course! The signal to free the rest of the human race! He hurriedly flicked a few switches and pressed a few knobs, and the signal was beamed worldwide. Humanity was saved.

 

“Our experiments on Earth have been… destroyed.” One Cyberman said. It was monitoring the transmissions from the planet closely. And they’d lost.

“We will survive. We shall return to our adopted homeworld. We will survive. We will freeze ourselves. We will survive.” The Cyberleader on the Cybership said. And a ghostly chant filled the air as the ship flew towards Telos.

“We will survive. We will survive. We will survive…”

 

Zoe, once being freed from the control, immediately ran (or stomped, or whatever Cyberman-suits do) to the TARDIS lab. The Doctor came in a moment later and asked her what she was doing.

“I am.” Zoe stopped. She hadn’t heard the tinny voice that was now her’s since being released. She inwardly brushed away the illogical feeling of fear before continuing “I am making an antidote to the Cyberglue to free everyone. Scalpel?”

The Doctor handed her a Scalpel before returning to the control room. Jamie was busy being a natural leader and leading the other ex-Cybermen to the infirmary, sorry, sick bay. Isobel and Susan were still on the screen. He hurriedly asked for their location, and then begged he got the right coordinates.

 

Isobel sat in the dark of the WNDDA HQ. Susan also sat quietly. Their Cyberman friend, who had introduced himself as Carstairs, was the only one making noise, a gentle puffing and electronic hum filling the room. Then, from nowhere, there came a gust of wind. A gentle one at that, but a gust of wind nonetheless. Susan immediately looked up. A faint wheezing filled her ears. She grinned with joy at that noise she’d never thought she’d hear again. The TARDIS was here, and all would be well.

 

Zoe’s concoction was, inevitably, brilliant, and worked every time with no ill effects. The anti-glue was spread amongst the entire human race, and freed them from the metal suits. After an afternoon tea and catchup with Susan and David, the four travellers went back to the ship. Zoe immersed herself in a book, Jamie retreated to goodness knows where, and the Doctor went to his lab to fiddle with something. Mid-afternoon, if there was such a thing onboard the ship, the Doctor called Jamie and Zoe over. Zoe watched him remove the chips from Jamie’s head. Then Jamie watched the process happen to Zoe. And finally, Zoe, with her photographic memory and copious notes, carefully (and brilliantly) removed the chip from the Doctor’s head. What had happened twice under London now couldn’t be done easily again. Isobel, meanwhile, was sitting in her room, thinking. She looked at the photos she had up. She had ones of sewers. She had ones of tunnels. She had ones of a jungle planet. She had ones of beautiful banners being taken down. She had ones of ancient Greece, and she had a few of a futuristic city. A tear slid down her face. Zoe came in.

“The Doctor removed the chips from our heads and- are you alright?” She babbled. Isobel shook her head. Zoe tried (and partially succeeded) in being comforting.

“Why? What’s wrong?” She asked, concerned. Isobel thought for a minute before answering.

“It’s just… seeing a city I love reduced to an emotionless hell. It stopped being fun, but I pushed on to get out of it. To save my city. But this isn’t enjoyable anymore.” She said. Zoe said nothing, but planted a kiss on her cheek and left the room in search of the Doctor.

 

**Epilogue**

 

Zoe and Jamie had persuaded the Doctor to visit Victoria and Isobel regularly. But one day, they didn’t hold the appointment. Victoria and Isobel were concerned. The two met up at Isobel’s house for the afternoon, and then the Brigadier turned up, his face solemn.

“Hello Brigadier. How can we help? Is everything alright?” Isobel asked. He simply played a tape.

“Hello, this is the Doctor, well, the second Doctor speaking. Say hello Jamie and Zoe, say hello! (‘Hello!’) Anyway, down to business. We’ve been allowed five more minutes together before… before my own people take them away. They’re going to take Jamie and Zoe back to just after they met me. They’ll only remember our first meeting. (The sound paused as the Doctor evidently had a hard time saying this. Jamie could be faintly heard saying ‘It’s alright, we’ll be fine.’) So, when our meetings stop, we’re sorry. As for me, well, us Time Lords have a trick we can do to change our face, called regeneration. And these Time Lords here are doing that to me by force. I won’t look like, you know, me, if I ever meet you again. I’ll tuck this in my left hand pocket, so I’ll have it once I’ve changed. Hopefully I remember it. Anyway… Isobel, Victoria. From Jamie, Zoe, and I, we wish you (Jamie and Zoe joined in) thank you. We will miss you.”

 

The tape ended and the house was full of silence.

 

**Next Time: Plane Down**

**Author's Note:**

> Part 1 done! Just so you know, I have officially started work on my next story!


End file.
